Review: Knights Onrush
by Staff Writer
June 16, 2009
Overview
Knights Onrush is a Castle Defense game in which your goal is to defend your castle from continuous waves of varying enemies. Each level gets increasingly more difficult. To kill your enemy you usually must flick them in the air, but as you beat more and more levels, this turns into a serious challenge. There are varying upgrades to improve your castle's defense from the typical fortifying the walls, adding archers, and wizards.
Knights Onrush breathes new life by allowing you to actually do specific things to the attackers like feeding them to a dragon, or blowing them up with a fireball. Where Defend Your Castle and Stick Wars become boring with endless levels of stick figures, Knights Onrush adds actual levels across a map giving you the feeling that you are actually doing something and going somewhere.
Features
Knights Onrush is feature laden for a Castle Defense game by offering three modes of gameplay. The main one is Campaign where there are 12 levels to beat to clear the entire map. Each level is composed of a series of days you have to survive anywhere from 8 to 16 days. Each level has new enemies to contend with, for Example Level 8 is titled Secret Spells, and is the first time you face wizards. Each level builds on the past one by including all the enemies you have faced plus the new one. The next mode is endless siege which is just like Defend Your Castle/Stick Wars where it starts out easy, and each level gets progressively tougher introducing tougher enemies. The final mode is madness where you begin having to fight off all of the different type of enemies, 8 in total. Each of the three modes has three difficulty levels, easy medium, and hard to add more challenges.
Knights Onrush sets itself apart from the pack by adding upgradeable tools to dispose of the enemies. Each upgrade costs money and some even require sacrifices which are done by Dragon Altar or Hell Gate. Once you get enough money and sacrifices you can upgrade your castle door (5 in total), or add cannons. Then there are other tools that come in small, medium, and large: including a boulder, a column, and a fireball. With the 1.1 update came a new weapon the Ballista that is an arrow shooter attached to the roof. Once you get the tools they take time to charge up, and then you can smash the enemies with a column or burn them up with a fireball. There are 22 possible upgrades adding many unique ways to kill your enemies.
The Good
Almost every aspect in this game falls in the good category beginning with the visuals. Instead of Stick Figures there are fully fleshed out and extremely detailed cartoon characters. Not only that, but the animations are top notch as well with the dragon swooping in for a sacrifice, an enemy splattering blood when it comes crashing back down, or the explosions. As the day progresses the clouds float pass, and the sky changes color as the day progresses. I have to give another mention to the campaign mode providing a map of 12 different levels adding so much more to the castle defense genre. The 1.1 update provides scoring for each individual level as well. The sounds are perfect for this type of game with a couple different background songs that make you feel like you're in a medieval siege. There are varying screams from each of the different enemies as you flick them around.
The best aspect is that instead of mad flicking of the screen you actually grab enemies to sacrifice them or drag one of the 4 main types of tools to kill them. Each enemy also requires a different tactic, with some being able to flick straight in the air super easy, and then the horseback knights require a really strong flick to get it high enough to kill. Sometimes you actually drag the catapults and slam them back to the ground to blow up multiple enemies. Adding actual levels across a map is sheer brilliance creating a feeling of accomplishment instead of one stream of endless levels.
The save system is masterful so that the exact instant you quit, the same screen pops back up when you come back. Another plus is the load screens which are really quick which help it to be a perfect pick up and play title wherever you are whenever you have a few minutes to spare.
The Bad
Nothing really, this is an excellent title with everything executed nicely. One thing to add would be online high scores which aren’t necessary to fully enjoy this game. I also would like a little more celebration on the end of level screen.The Verdict
Knights Onrush is one of the most fun experiences I’ve had on my iPhone. When I first saw the teaser trailer I had super high expectations, and when it meet my expectation, I can’t but love this title. For any Castle Defense fan this is any easy pick up, but I think Knights Onrush can appeal to an even wider audience. With the new free version everyone should try this. I give this one of the highest recommendations I can for an iPhone game, a definite Must Buy.
